WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 



295 



summer home among the northern spruces and firs it 

 has an exquisitely pure, tender song of four notes, dy- 

 ing away in an indescribably plaintive cadence, like 

 the soft sigh of the wind among the pine boughs.' 



At all times an unsocial bird, the Creeper 

 is seldom, even at nesting time, seen in com- 

 pany with another of his kind either male or 

 female. Apparently too busy for any lover's 

 nonsense, he yet does indulge in it upon oc- 

 casion and, like all drudges, when he wishes 

 to be sentimental he succeeds only in being 

 serio-comic. With utmost gravity he offers 

 his sweetheart a fat grub, cocking his head 

 sidewise as he sees it disappear down her 

 throat. She puts up her bill for more, 

 which he pretends to give, necessarily at 

 long range on account of the slender curve 

 of his beak. Then he goes on with 

 his task of hunting, while she tags close 

 behind teasing for more after 

 the manner of a hungry nest- 

 ling. This does not last long. 

 The business of house-build- 

 ing begins. His little home 

 is hidden snugly behind the 

 bark of a dead pine tree high 

 up from the ground, but higher 

 still from the same tree he warbles his queer little love 

 song, when the glorious dawn of a June morning moves 

 even his plodding soul to music. 



726 d. Sierra Creeper. 



" He offers his sweetheart a fat 

 grub." 



